Artist: Katatonia
Title: Fall Of Hearts
Genre: Doom Metal/ Dark Rock
Release Date: 20th May 2016
Label: Peaceville Records
Album Review
KATATONIA have been with us for last twenty five years, and one thing you can always rely on them to give is quality musicianship and songwriting abilities. On all this they’ve delivered with their latest ‘Fall Of Hearts’ album. It seems to take off from ‘Dethroned & Uncrowned’, which was disrobed version of ‘Dead End Kings’, to be more precise in terms of more ambient, acoustic version of their songs. I would dare to say that they’re on the exit line from Metal category and more within the Dark Rock.
‘Serein’ is a great earworm of a song, if only it wasn’t so reminiscent of R.E.M. The video of this and the ‘Old Hearts Fall’ give a clue that the band is putting a lot of stress on the lyrics, most of them on the timeless topics of love and loss, for which the intimate, reflective tone of the album is truly suitable, settling down a sense of melancholy over the listener as gently as first snow over the landscape within the first four songs, hardening with the intro of ‘Sanction’ that mellows out only to give more angsty feel still.
Whilst I’ve admired most of their work, this album just refuses to grow on me no matter of the times I’ve given it a listen. Perhaps the heart has really fallen from this? I’d give it high marks of musicianship for sure, but it seems to be just using it for the sake of releasing an album. A bit of a disappointment you could say or a trap of my bar of expectations set far too high for them.
Tracklist
01. Takeover
02. Serein
03. Old Hearts Fall
04. Decima
05. Sanction
06. Residual
07. Serac
08. Last Song Before The Fade
09. Shifts
10. The Night Subscriber
11. Pale Flag
12. Passer
Line-up
Jonas Renkse – vocals, guitars
Anders Nyström – guitars, backing vocals
Roger Öjersson – guitar
Niklas Sandin – bass
Daniel Moilanen – drums
Websites
http://www.katatonia.com / https://www.facebook.com/katatonia
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 9
Total: 8 / 10
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